Typographical distributing mechanism



Oct. 20, 1953 w. B. ABBOTT ETAL 2,656,038

TYPOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTING MECHANISM 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed Feb. l, 1951 n IN VEN TORS MM2 WWW/1770MB:

t- 20, 1953 w. B. ABBoTTErAL 2,656,038

TYPOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 1, 1951 2 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTUM l LJLMM Patented Oct. 20, 1953 TYPGGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTIN G MECHANISM William B.

Abbott, Springfield Gardens, and Paul Hilpman, Garden City, N. Y., assignors to Mergenthaler Linotype Company, a corporation of New York Application February 1, 1951, Serial No. 208,970

14 Claims.

This invention relates to typographical distributing machines, such as Linotype machines of the general organization represented in U. S. Letters Patent to O. Mergenthaler, No. 436,532, wherein circulating matrices are released from a magazine in the order in which they are to appear in print and then assembled in line, the composed line transferred to the face of a mold, the mold filled with molten metal to form a type bar or slug, and the matrices thereafter returned through a distributing mechanism to the magazine from which they started.

In being distributed, the matrices are individually fed to a horizontal distributor bar, conveyed therealong by a set of rotating screws driven through a clutch arrangement from the intermediate drive shaft of the machine, and, finally, released at different points along the bar for return to appropriate channels in the magazine. During the operation of the distributing mechanism, it sometimes happens that the rotation of the screws is abnormally resisted because of faulty distribution caused, for example, by a jammed matrix. In such cases, it is the function of the distributor clutch to break the driving connection between the intermediate shaft and the distributor screws in order to prevent damage to the parts.

The distributor clutch arrangement generally employed comprises driving and driven members held in frictional engagement by a spring through a mechanical connection, which includes pairs of oppositely disposed beveled surfaces ordinarily positioned for engagement with each other. When undue resistance to motion is offered to the driven member, the beveled surfaces are forced out of engagement and allow the spring to interrupt the frictional engagement between the clutch members.

While this clutch arrangement has performed satisfactorily for years on standard commercial Linotype machines, nevertheless it has failed to meet the high standards of sensitivity required for high speed machines, such as are shown and described in the application for U. S. Letters Patent of Louis Rossetto, et. al., Serial No. 184,072, led September 9, 1950.

The present invention provides an improved clutch device of greatly increased sensitivity and one in which a force of approximately 11/2 lbs. acting upon the distributor screws is suiiicient to produce disengagement of the driving and driven members, whereas formerly a force of the order of 6 to 8 lbs. was required. In addition, after their disengagement, provision is made for automatically locking .the driven member out of operative relationship with the driving member until manually released and reset.

These and other improvements will be more fully pointed out in the detailed description to follow.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the improved distributor clutch arrangement as applied to a Linotype machine; V

Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional View taken along the line 3-3 oi Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a side view, partly diagrammatic, of the upper part of the machine illustrating one of cthe safety features of the present invention; an

Fig. 5 is a detail view, ing how one of the shaft.

During distribution, the matrices areV conveyed along the distributor bar (not shown) by a pair of upper rotating screws I and a single lower rotating screw Ia until they arrive at their points of release and then permitted to fall by gravity through a short magazine entrance 2 into the appropriate channels of the particular matrix storage magazine 3 which happens to be in use.

'I'he screws I and la are supported at opposite ends in bearings A, which are themselves mounted upon the horizontal crosspiece of the distributor frame B comprising arms B1 rising from the main base frame of the machine. The upper screws I have little or no end play, but the lower screw Ia, although normally banking against the right bearing A (as viewed in Fig. 1) is permitted ome slight axial movement in a leftward direcion.

The distributor screws are constantly driven through a clutch from the intermediate drive shaft (not shown), which latter serves to drive a pulley 4 by means of a belt 5. The pulley 4 is loosely mounted on a horizontal shaft 6 between a pair of collars 'I to prevent end play; and a driven disk 8, the facing 9 of which is adapted un-der normal circumstances to bear against the side of the drive pulley 4 to maintain frictional engagement therewith, is attached to a threaded sleeve I0 slidably disposed by means of a keyway on the shaft 6. The driving connection to the upper screws I is completed through a gear II mounted on the shaft 6 and a gear arrangement denoted generally by the reference character I2 in Fig. 1 and, in the case of the partly in section, showdriven parts is keyed to its lower screw la, through a gear i3 mounted at the right hand extremity of its supporting `shaft which extends beyond the bearing A (see Fig. 3).

The horizontal shaft E is supported from a casting C of the distributor frame B and rotatably mounted in a bearing L4 thereof. As Joestzshown in Figsand 5,`thesleeve I0 is provided with a key l5 arranged'for lngitudinal 'displacement in an elongated slot formed in Ithe shaft E (Figs 5) to permit the movement of the driven disk" 8 into and out Otengagement Vwith"the',drive pulley The shaft 6 is hollowed out at its figli/t1 ,l end to house a tension spring IJ and a plunger I8 which, acting against they key, 2 m'allys'erye, o to maintain the necessary fri o' al between the disk and pulley."""l-ofeL right Lrdnf' the shaft 6 extends beyond thebearing I4 and is externally threaded to permit theattachmet of a knurled knob I6 as well as internally thread@dY to house an adjustable screw i9 which regulates theV pressure exerted .by 'the Springs above, to prevent damage assassine@ c. ma ib' bi" t0 'the mafhirie rafts when one more matrices becomls'lodged in the distri utor ewsfthe lower sorew lis'perrnitted to at 6r yield axiallyV in its bearings'n 'aleftward direction as a result or the cammingaction'which will always @sur hetweerithi rotating screw t''e 'srand th iaremegl'mat Q'rimatrieesahsi lized in the present invention to effect the in engagement of theclutch.^""" 5 v vlowrard this end, a pair of cooperating inverted U-shaped members '20 and `25 (Figsjl and 3) WldmOi/@ment 0f the lower V.Screw/ii" to the l'fhdisenoagmg mechanism- 'rhe member '2.0. having connected arms 26a and Zilb,k is Vpivotally suspende@ from the distributor frame B by mee's of' ashort fore-and-aft shaft 2l; whereas the and carries at its rear side a small pair of rollers 29B. The threaded sleeve I0 is provided at its right end with a thin collar 3l which, during the rotation of the shaft 6, is free to rotate between the small rollers 29E but which serves to shift thea-slide 2l to te@ rights/mathe -leeye l0 is S0 dsplacddurlng disengagement. ns best shown Fgs' 1"'a'1d`2, 'the snre 29 is positioned in the :casting C by means of a vertical pin 30 extending lothrough an elongated hole or slot 29b (Fig. 2)

gement.'`

25 hidjoiit of active ooit '1i oy nog sensitively serve to transmit the slightest; left-l illdw sucient endwise movement of the slide ngagement of the clutch. The y fprepositoned with respect to ns of a built-in compression et screw 29d, the former normally -servin` o maintain the slide in a leftward lposition'as""'dete'r-'riined by the setting of the capable of compression during disemit when the slide 29 is shifted right- Wardly by the Q d munisdati e ing the' normal,

133 en its 13T-ril vom` the. .diss n is threaded sleeve it .an

member 25, havngarms 2Sa and 25h; is pivotally mounted to the front of the casting C by means or @snort horizontal shaft 2sj Figi). The arm '@Qjcarries at its lower end a roller 22V which acts z gainstthek left face of the gear I3' (Eig. 1)",

dndertension of alight spring 24', "and thus serves af'rfoiaaoe1owef 'so-few in irs-ooms'. rightward position."A rlhe other arm 250.1"l carries @This 23 baring' a vertical imite' @decine (see F- 5,

(Ei jl); The knifeedge y23Va normally engages the ack edge of a plate 25C, which latteris atl' tachd to the aforesaidarIn'ZEFY of the member 2'5"The' arm 251? carriesl Va smallroller disk' "291-,

acting on the member 25 abovethelp'ivotshaft 2 5, maintains the disk 271v in constant readiness for 'engagement With the' threaded "sleeve 'IQ- This tendency, however, is vnormally resisted by the knife edge 23 or until the knife edge is' Y n pi'vfoted out of the path of the plateZ''c bythe axial displacement of the screw' le, at which time the disl; 2.1 is permitted to engage one'of the threads of the rotatingrsleeve H1, camming the, latter in a rightward 'direction along the shaft 6"a`n'd thereby disengaging the drivenfdisk r8F l (which, as has beendexplained, is,L attached't-oj the threaded sleeve) from friotional engagement, with the face of the drive pulley lli A' V"Once the clutch has been disengaged as the, result of an abnormal condition'inthe distributor, provision is made for Vlocking the 'clutch'oiltf of operation until it YisV inanuallyreset lfor' further; operation; Toward thisfend, an adjustable slide?1 2311s mourir titsiower one; an@ a compression spring 2s;

)"anfl a downwardlyprojetiong lportion 23b 0 p u bemoeit .e t b lindsay x dg Ynor den .with a o pressed inwardly against the counterforce exerted by the spring 28 in order to facilitate this resetting operation. As shown in Fig. 3, the casting C is provided with a similar opstanding portion C1 to limit the swing of the member 25 during resetting so that the projection 3b always remains positioned within (i. e. will not be cammed out of) the notch 25d.

In the commercial machine of the class described, the magazine entrance 2 is mounted on a pair of arms 35 (Fig. a) pivotally attached to the arms B1 of the distributor frame and may be swung backwardly to permit access to the interior parts. Obviously, if distribution of matrices were attempted while the magazine entrance is out of operative position, the matrices would not nd their way back to their proper magazine channels but, in fact, would be scattered about the top of the machine, falling as they may. To prevent this occurrence and as an added safety feature, the present invention provides for the automatic disengagement of the clutch device whenever the magazine entr-ance is out of proper position. Thus, a lever 36 is pivotally mounted on the bearing A at the right side of the machine and is provided with an upstanding beveled finger 37 (see Figs. 3 and 4), arranged for engagement with the head of a set screw 38 carried by the aforementioned arm 23a 0f the member 2i?. urged rearwardly (i. e. in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 4) by the action of a compression spring 39 against said lever 3S, causing the beveled portion of the iinger, through its engagement with the set screw 38, to cam the member 2t in a leftward direction (as viewed in Fig. l) and thereby, as we have already seen, to effect the disengagement of the clutch. The right magazine entrance supporting arm 3'5, however, carries a set screw di) which, when the magazine entrance 2 is in operative position, acts against the lever 36 to overcome the force exerted by the spring 3e and, consequently, positions the beveled finger 3'? out of contact with the set screw 3d.

In conclusion, it should be understood that, although the present invention has been shown and described in a single speciiic form and by way of example, many variations and modifications may be made therein which will still be comprised within its spirit, It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or embodiment, except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. Typographical distributing mechanism comprising, in combination, rotatable screws for conveying matrices along a distributor bar, one of said screws being displaceable axially driving and driven members normally frictionally engaged to transmit power to the screws, a driven shaft, a threaded sleeve fast to the driven member and keyed to said shaft, a spring-urged locking pawl to hold the driven member out of operative relationship with the driving member but normally held out of operation, and means controlled by the axial displacement of said distributor screw and presenting an element engageable with the threads of said threaded sleeve for shifting the driven member out of operative relationship with the driving member and releasing said locking pawl.

2. A combination according to claim l, including a single hand operated lever for resetting the displaced distributor screw and the locking The finger 3l' is normally pawl and reconditioning the clutch for further operation.

3. Typographical distributing mechanism comprising, in, combination, rotatable screws for conveying matrices along a distributor bar, driving means, a driven shaft mechanically connected to the screws, a driven member mounted on said shaft and normally frictionally engaged with the driving means, a threaded member fast to said driven member and common to said shaft, a pivoted arm normally suspended out of operative engagement with the threads of said threaded member, means controlled by one of the screws for releasing said arm into engagement with the threads of said threaded member, said arm by such engagement being operative to shift the driven member out of engagement with the driving means, and a hand operated lever for resetting the screw controlled means and the pivoted arm to reconditicn the clutch for further operation.

e. A combination according to claim 3, including means for positively locking the driven member out of operative relationship with the driving means until released by said hand operated lever.

5. in a typographical distributing mechanism wherein the power for driving the distributor screws is transmitted thereto through a friction clutch arrangement and wherein one of said screws is displaceable axially, the combination of a driven shaft, a threaded sleeve slidably mounted thereon and associated with the frictionally driven member of the clutch, a pivoted arm adapted for engagement with the threads of said threaded sleeve to effect the disengagement of the clutch, a knife edge normally serving to hold the arm out of engagement with the threads of said threaded sleeve, means controlled by the axial displacement of said distributor screw for removing the knife edge to eiect the disengagement of the clutch, and hand operated means for resetting the pivoted arm and knife edge to recondition the clutch and to reestablish the driving connection to the screws.

6. Typographical distributing mechanism comprising, in combination, rotatable screws for conveying matrices along a distributor bar, one of said screws being axially displaceable under abnormal conditions, power means for rotating the screws including a clutch, a trip device actuated by the axial movement of the distributor screw, and means controlled by said trip device for opening the clutch, said clutch opening means including an axially movable threaded sleeve attached to one of the clutch members, and a roller disk movable into engagement with the threads of said threaded sleeve upon actuation of the trip device, said roller disk by Such engagement causing the sleeve to move axially and open the clutch.

7. A combination according to claim 6, wherein the roller disl: is carried by a pivoted arm which normally holds the disk out of engagement with the threads of the threaded sleeve and which is maintained in such normal position by the trip device.

8. Typographical distributing mechanism comprising, in combination, rotatable screws for conveying matrices along a distributor bar, one of said screws being axially displaceable under abnormal conditions, power means for rotating the screws including a clutch, a trip device actuated by the axial movement of the distributor screw, means controlled by said trip device for opening the clutch, and automatic means distinct from satema sai'rl .niutch for positively zlncking the clutch in its open position. A

:9. A mombination :according to 8, Whenein sthe .automatic :locking means nompris'e sa springeurged iooking :pawl'whih isnoirmallyrheld ontnf 4action Whenithe :ehitchaismiosed Hout .which is thrown into action :by zthe movement nf the clutohvto openposition.

ilO. A combination according :to claim z8, 1including manually operable mea-ns :to Ldisengage the 'locking means `f desiiseil and yipermit A'the closing of the-clutch.

.151. ,-:A fnom'bination according :to :c1ai1n8,`fwhere in vthe automatic locking means `fcornpuise fa spring-urged `locking paw-1, za cooperating slide coupled to and movable with the movable clutch member, :said :slide :in the closed position of lthe Vclutch.-lloldiwg :the fpam out nf action :and in the @pen position .nf -releasing :the pawlforaction.

12. Typographical distributing mechanism comprising, :in eombination, :rotatable screws .for conveying matrices :along .a 1distributorjaar, one of :said screws being displaeeable :axially under abnormal :conditions yinsoweit :means :for rotating the screws finohrding a lutca, -ga 'threaded sleeve fast-'tothe movable fclntchmember, a spring lfactnated pivated :having :an element 'for engagement with theithreads of fsa-tid sleeve to rvef feet :the :disengagement of the clutch, 4a ,second spring actuated piloted having a knife :'ege engagement with thei's't Y:pivoted:arm'to holdlthe latter :normally .ont of :operation but sensitive ito the `faltial displacement of fthe 'distributor Istrlen* to u'elease said rst fpiwited jamn fior ioperaition, hand mperatelmeans v15m"aesetting:the 'rs't feit'- oted armfandrits kriieiedgelengagementwith the second spivoted farm to permit the :closing Loff fthe clutch, and :connections v'between th'e :two arms wheneby the resetting of the frs't :armwill :effect the resetting of the secondxarmzandthtough the latter fthe :resetting the :displaced distributor screw.

'13. A .recombination according 'izo claim l12, rincluding aa @spring actuated pawl ifm' positively lockingthe clutch inzitsropen position, salid nawl being nominally held kout yof .action by the mrst pivoted garni but 2tlxroaznzinto yaction :by zits vspring Whenssaidfamn releas ed orfcperation.

1.4,. A combination according itc felalm L1B, including connections between the 'f'rst pivote arm and lthe locking pawll V`Wherelcfy the flatter 21s restored lto fits normal inactive 'position against the :opposition of Fits tispring :.by the 'resetting for said arm.

PAUL

References -Gited in the file -of this patent UNITED yS'FKIUES PATENTS 

